The high school response to school refusal behavior

Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) estimate that five to 7.5 million of America’s 50 million students are not attending school regularly and this problem cuts across gender, geography and ethnicity. This is a major problem our society must overcome because excessive absenteeism has negative academic, social and mental health for students. The behaviors associated with excessive absenteeism is referred to as school refusal behavior (SRB), which covers the myriad of reasons for and ways that students miss school. Research into excessive absenteeism and school refusal behavior has been able to quantify the scope and impact of the problem, however the research is limited in how this problem is experienced, understood and addressed by school personnel. The purpose of this case study was to understand school personnel’s experiences addressing SRB at a middle class, suburban high school. The school personnel in this study worked directly with students demonstrating SRB, including counselors, vice principals, nurses and child study team members. The school personnel’s meetings with students demonstrating SRB and their parents were observed, the school personnel were interviewed and school documents were reviewed. The Functional Model of School Refusal Behavior (1993; Kearney et al., 2004; Kearney & Albano, 2004; Kearney, 2007; Kearney & Graczyk, 2014) was used as a lens to describe and understand how staff members think about SRB. The findings demonstrated how the school personnel, as individuals, all played their specific roles within the bureaucratic structure as they implemented the school’s policies and procedures to create the systemic response to SRB at the research site. Both the school personnel as individuals and the school’s systemic response followed same Conceptual Framework for Analysis of and Respond to SRB. The school personnel believed they were able to effectively respond to SRB when it fit neatly into the school’s policies and processes. However, the policies’ focus on documentation and Conceptual Framework for Analysis of and Response to SRB combined to prevent the school personnel from responding effectively to many cases of SRB. Therefore, school personnel were unable to help students and families in cases where assistance was needed the most.Ed.D.Includes bibliographical reference